Question - who designed the image Salomés medallion?
Is it part of the Rift mysteries and designed by Drews team or is it part of Raxxla and hence FD's design?
You have to remember that the Dark Wheel are the masters of obfuscation. Misdirection and confusion are definitely their modus operandi. Having people question whether they even exist suits their purposes extremely well. The Dark Wheel faction at Shinrarta Dezhra may be official, or it may not be. You need to ask yourselves whether or not it would suit the purposes of the Dark Wheel to have such an outlet and if they did, to what use would they put it?
I don't think that the original "Founder or Elite" missions are currently available in the game, but haven't been able to get an answer on this.
First they were first nerfed in 1.5/2.0 to only appear at Jameson Memorial, and they promptly disappeared from sight. I logged bugs in both beta and post release (link) and never got an answer back from QA other than they'd chase it up.
Then it seems that they almost certainly weren't converted over to the new mission boards which arrived with Engineers in 1.6/2.1.
I asked about that in the live stream Q&A in the run up to it's launch (link). The post was partially answered in stream, but not with regards to the Founder missions, so I asked again the following day and got this response:
I did have a founder answer but we ran out of time. There are a couple of founder only variants of missions in for 2.1. They will be more rewarding variants of a couple of the templates you know. It's what we could do for 2.1 and we want to try to find time to work on them later.
To clarify, missions require you to be a founder or elite, so the only rank gated missions in the game.
So I've taken from that the original missions weren't converted, and pretty much all I've seen since then is the bog-standard cargo delivery mission "Sensitive Supply run".
I've asked a few times since if they were converted, most recently in December in the "mission changes feedback" thread:
(link)
I will try to look into this, they should still be available. Obviously this doesn't seem to be the case.
I've stopped asking since, because as a FMotE kickstarter backer I'm pretty fed up with the way this pledge level has been dealt with from the outset, and I've asked enough times now to probably qualify as badgering.
Perhaps someone else can try logging a bug or if Drew has a Batphone direct to the desk of FD, perhaps he can find out for sure if they're there and not appearing or are indeed still AWOL.
Hidden away somewhere in the Exploration subthread I started a discussion about a possible expedition to locate ancient stars.
As I've said elsewhere ... I have a feeling that Raxxla (if it is a place) is older then the universe itself. There is a class of stars known as "Population III" stars. One of the goals of the James Webb Space Telescope is to find evidence of these stars ... stars who's existence dates back almost to the Big Bang itself. These are massive metal-poor stars with an age nearing 14 billion years.
I believe that Raxxla will be found orbiting a metal rich star that is older than what is possible given current theories regarding the age of the universe and that the "gate" on that world was used to shove Raxxla and its parent star back into the distant past. It's great age would be the result of having traveled through the eons twice.
It is, of course, pure conjecture. A guess. Gut instinct. The quest has to start somewhere.
We remember seeing a POI on EDSM describing a region of old stars, proto-stars, older then our galaxy, but we cannot remember which POI it is. We must find it now!
A guide to what we know and what we think we know.
Alex Ryder had two sons: Neptune and Oberon. Oberon believed he could find Soontill. Neptune considered anything other than Raxxla to be irrelevant. Arguments ensued and we split from the Dark Wheel. We followed Oberon and formed the Circle of Independent Elite Pilots
Raxxla—if it exists—is in another Galaxy; you know the legends.
Your father was chasing the mythical planet Raxxla. Does it exist, or does it not? If it does, then on Raxxla there's an alien construct that's a gateway to other Universes, and all that's in those Universes in the way of bounty, and treasures, and aliens, and life . . .
'Jason Ryder was convinced that Raxxla existed. That's why he trained for, and became a part of, the Dark Wheel, the legend-seekers. I hadn't heard much from him or about him for some time until just before he died, when he told me he'd found evidence for the real existence of Raxxla. He came back from Deep Space to get a proper team together . . . ' Rafe smiled bitterly. 'But just before he was due to go back, he decided to take a safe-worlds holiday jaunt with his son . . . and an assassin was waiting for him.'
'But why?' Alex asked. 'Why kill him for finding Raxxla?'
'Because there are people on Raxxla already. This is only a guess, mind you, but from what happened to Jason I'd say it was close to being right. We've long suspected that a corps of élites lives there, and are exploiting the gateway. They're powerful, twisted men. Powerful enough to hire an assassin to kill the threat to their dominance.'
This almost seems like the work of the Dynasty people. They don't use names, they just are. They use assassins and memory wipes to further their agenda. They are secretive. They have bookoos of money, influence, and power. They have ties to the companies who are building hyperdrives and researching hyperdrive technology, which could have come from beyond Raxxla itself, Which also means they have Ties to the Pilots Federation and Control of our universe via Permits.
Or it could be as simple as "Raxxla is the Thargoid word for "barnacles" which means there is a fully active US out there with a functional portal to go along with that strange galaxy map that pops up"
Hiding Raxxla in Wagars Reach seems too obvious, but then again, hiding in plain sight.
So it is funny that you bring up what we do know and don't know about Raxxla the day i read Chapter 15. So lets go back in time, to Salome's Trial! Warning: Premonition Spoiler
I've seen you run missions out of Sinrarta Dezhra, Thorn replied. Shinrarta Dezhra? The woman laughed...You think The Dark Wheel advertises on a station board in plain sight? That we need rookie pilots to drag a couple tonnes of thrumpberry flavouring across to Hutton Orbital? A Trivial Ploy to keep the Founders off our backs...It keeps the treasure seekers and wishful thinkers occupied, They believe they are onto something...The truth is far more subtle then they will ever suspect. Shinrarta Deshra is merely a Front.
You should not consider the Dark Wheel a single organization...The Wheel has many levels, hubs, cogs, gears, and spokes, it is more akin to an affiliation of organisations that share certain common goals. Interlocking in purpose.
The woman in particular speaking for the Dark Wheel to the Children of Raxxla representative is the one in question: Spikey Hair, Small Wirey Frame, Supple Dark Eyes, Olive Skin.
We are adding her to our list of Dynasty Conspiracy suspects. Also We are falling down the rabbit hole down to saying this dynasty plan, and the "organizations" involved, are apart of the dark wheel, and these people have control of Raxxla and the technology from beyond the galaxy.
So it is funny that you bring up what we do know and don't know about Raxxla the day i read Chapter 15. So lets go back in time, to Salome's Trial! Warning: Premonition Spoiler
I've seen you run missions out of Sinrarta Dezhra, Thorn replied. Shinrarta Dezhra? The woman laughed...You think The Dark Wheel advertises on a station board in plain sight? That we need rookie pilots to drag a couple tonnes of thrumpberry flavouring across to Hutton Orbital? A Trivial Ploy to keep the Founders off our backs...It keeps the treasure seekers and wishful thinkers occupied, They believe they are onto something...The truth is far more subtle then they will ever suspect. Shinrarta Deshra is merely a Front.
You should not consider the Dark Wheel a single organization...The Wheel has many levels, hubs, cogs, gears, and spokes, it is more akin to an affiliation of organisations that share certain common goals. Interlocking in purpose.
The woman in particular speaking for the Dark Wheel to the Children of Raxxla representative is the one in question: Spikey Hair, Small Wirey Frame, Supple Dark Eyes, Olive Skin.
We are adding her to our list of Dynasty Conspiracy suspects. Also We are falling down the rabbit hole down to saying this dynasty plan, and the "organizations" involved, are apart of the dark wheel, and these people have control of Raxxla and the technology from beyond the galaxy.
The woman in particular speaking for the Dark Wheel to the Children of Raxxla representative is the one in question: Spikey Hair, Small Wirey Frame, Supple Dark Eyes, Olive Skin.
Give me a few days and then I'll report back with my discovery of Raxxla. I humbly request that the title of the book is called: "Well, that didn't work."
"Hey, hey, HEY! You in there? We need to go, NOW! That place you were yammering about the other day... Ragamuffin? Rutabaga? Raditz? Razzle? OH! Raxxla! Yeah that place! What? No one knows where it is? Well, let's find it! Why? Uhh just a funny feeling... wait, what are you doing with that tranq-gu-!"
For Us the interest in finding it has always been here, but there is so little information we don't even know where to start. It's not like we can chase down rumors in the shady places of the world looking for a tiny clue of Raxxla. All we have to go on is: It's in the game. I Suppose Shinrarta is as good a place as any to start, but without even the smallest trail of bread crumbs it will most likely fizzle out fast.
We also don't know what we are looking for, though it has been described as a planet, a ghost planet, and a gateway to another galaxy. So is it a planet? Is it a POI on a planet? Did someone really beat us there? Luckily we have compiled a nice list of what we know so we need to start digging deeper!
The answer you're looking for just might be found in Robert Holdstock's original The Dark Wheel novella which was released along with the original Elite in 1984.
It's a short read and can be found all over the internet with a quick Google.
This also brings to mind a theory that's been swirling around my head this week. Perhaps the journey to find Raxxla is a literary one.
A while back I had a short exchange of conversation in email with Ian Bell, co-creator of the original Elite. According to Bell, Robert Holdstock had a very specific concept behind what exactly Raxxla was intended to be and that, now that Holdstock is dead, Bell remains the only person alive who knows what Holdstock's original imagination of Raxxla is or was. According to Bell:
Acornsoft approached Robert Holdstock and commissioned him to write TDW and the Manual. I sent hime some notes and we met a few times to dicuss plots and explain the gameplay. Rob had difficulty playing the game and worked mainly from the written materials I think.http://www.elitehomepage.org/playguide.htm contains that which we provided him and you can infer from it what was Rob/Peirs and what was me and what was Braben.
GalCop was fully Rob. As was some other stuff I didn;t like (the beacons in witch space, Tharglets as immature Thargoids ) but overall TDW and the Manual were very atmospheric and successful I thought.
I think I was familiar with The Alien World and Raaxla within it at the time, though I had subsequently forgotten. I think it may have been why Acornsoft approached Rob.Thanks for the reminder. I've ordered a copy.
You may be interested to know that I alone now Rob has left us know exactly where and what the Raxxla of TDW is. And I can tel youl with total certainty that it does not and intrinsically cannot exist within the stunted sterile static and stumbling Elite Dangerous universe.
It stand partly to reason that if Ian Bell is aware of what and where Holdstock intended Raxxla to be that David Braben would likely have been aware as well. It seems odd that Holdstock would have withheld that information from one half of the orignal Elite's creative team. If so then it is possible that David Braben has placed Raxxla in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy as an homage to Robert Holdstock ... a "thank you" to his memory and all that he did to help breath life into an 8-bit vector graphics video game.
Holdstock reused "Raxxla" and "The Dark Wheel" from The Alien World in The Dark Wheel novella. Is it possible that there are other hints hidden away in some of his other literary works? Perhaps finding out what Raxxla meant to Holdstock will lead us to unlocking the mystery in the game.
The answer you're looking for just might be found in Robert Holdstock's original The Dark Wheel novella which was released along with the original Elite in 1984.
It's a short read and can be found all over the internet with a quick Google.
This also brings to mind a theory that's been swirling around my head this week. Perhaps the journey to find Raxxla is a literary one.
A while back I had a short exchange of conversation in email with Ian Bell, co-creator of the original Elite. According to Bell, Robert Holdstock had a very specific concept behind what exactly Raxxla was intended to be and that, now that Holdstock is dead, Bell remains the only person alive who knows what Holdstock's original imagination of Raxxla is or was. According to Bell:
Acornsoft approached Robert Holdstock and commissioned him to write TDW and the Manual. I sent hime some notes and we met a few times to dicuss plots and explain the gameplay. Rob had difficulty playing the game and worked mainly from the written materials I think.http://www.elitehomepage.org/playguide.htm contains that which we provided him and you can infer from it what was Rob/Peirs and what was me and what was Braben.
GalCop was fully Rob. As was some other stuff I didn;t like (the beacons in witch space, Tharglets as immature Thargoids ) but overall TDW and the Manual were very atmospheric and successful I thought.
I think I was familiar with The Alien World and Raaxla within it at the time, though I had subsequently forgotten. I think it may have been why Acornsoft approached Rob.Thanks for the reminder. I've ordered a copy.
You may be interested to know that I alone now Rob has left us know exactly where and what the Raxxla of TDW is. And I can tel youl with total certainty that it does not and intrinsically cannot exist within the stunted sterile static and stumbling Elite Dangerous universe.
It stand partly to reason that if Ian Bell is aware of what and where Holdstock intended Raxxla to be that David Braben would likely have been aware as well. It seems odd that Holdstock would have withheld that information from one half of the orignal Elite's creative team. If so then it is possible that David Braben has placed Raxxla in the Elite: Dangerous galaxy as an homage to Robert Holdstock ... a "thank you" to his memory and all that he did to help breath life into an 8-bit vector graphics video game.
Holdstock reused "Raxxla" and "The Dark Wheel" from The Alien World in The Dark Wheel novella. Is it possible that there are other hints hidden away in some of his other literary works? Perhaps finding out what Raxxla meant to Holdstock will lead us to unlocking the mystery in the game.
Nice update and well concluded. I think I'm a fan of this theory.
Especially now after looking through the code & testing the name-generator for the old Oolite / Elite universe.
I discovered it has no way of generating a name with "RA" + "XX" + "LA" simply because the double-x variant doesn't exist in the generators strings. And it cannot use single letter-combinations in any variant from what I can see.
Hence I like your idea that it may be in the current game somewhere as homage to Mr. Holdstock.
And in context to what you wrote, then the original "Raxxla" construct have no sublime message including coordinates in it's name or anything either, so then any conversion of the letters to any number format is just a waste of time.
We're back to keeping our eyes peeled for anything that can give us a hint ingame as to where this homage is.
I discovered it has no way of generating a name with "RA" + "XX" + "LA" simply because the double-x variant doesn't exist in the generators strings. And it cannot use single letter-combinations in any variant from what I can see.
